Play Practice
by aubzdall
Summary: My entry for the Operation Ruthless shipping challenge. The couple is Eugene and Curly


**Hello lovers! This is my entry for the Operation Ruthless shipping challenge. I was actually really glad that I got these two. It's a Curly and Eugene story by the way. Anyway, enjoy!**

Eugene hummed merrily as he made his way home from school, his iPod playing a song from Eugene Eugene, the musical. He'd always had a soft spot for musicals. It was the first real indicator to him that he wasn't straight. He was just glad that his parents were supportive. He wasn't quite ready to come completely out of the closet, but pretty much everyone already knew. There were only a few of his friends who he'd actually told.

Arnold and Helga knew.

Originally he'd only been planning on telling Arnold, hoping for some advice as far as telling his parents. However, once the words were out of his mouth, Helga had burst from her hiding place in Arnold's closet screaming 'I KNEW IT!' before quickly trying to cover a hicky on her neck and turning bright red. They had both agreed to keep his secret in return for him not revealing that Arnold and Helga were a couple. Like him, they just weren't ready. Besides, he and Helga were a lot closer than people thought. They'd bonded a lot since Helga landed the role of Elle Woods in the school play. They'd had to spend a lot of time together since he was playing Emmett.

The only other person aside from his parents who knew was Sheena. She'd been his best friend since the first grade! It would have been wrong to not tell her. Sheena, however, had simply shaken her head, laughed, and kindly informed him that she already knew. She had even offered to be his Beard, which confused him until she explained that she'd date him to keep people from finding out.

He politely declined. Sheena deserved a great guy and he didn't want there to be any chance of him getting in the way of that.

Before he could round the last corner before reaching his house he collided headfirst with someone, sending both of them onto the sidewalk with a loud thud. Eugene yanked out his earbuds and shook the fall off, having become used to them after so long. "Gosh, I'm sorry, are you alright?"

A stray pair of glasses caught his eye and he picked them up, examining them for a brief second before realizing who he had knocked over.

Curly patted the ground blindly, searching for his glasses.

Euegene's expression grew somber when he realized that Curly's eyes were puffy and red like he had been crying. Eugene extended the glasses and apologized again, questioning Curly's well-being once again.

In a flash, the glasses were snatched out of his hand and shoved abruptly back onto their owner's face, covering his eyes. "I'm fine, you jinx!" Curly almost shouted coldly. "Why don't you watch where you're going next time?"

Eugene laughed lightly as he got onto his feet.

This didn't go unnoticed by Curly, whose rage became hotter. "What's so funny?" He snarled, taking a sudden step towards Eugene.

"Nothing, you just sounded a lot like Helga for a minute." Eugene answered with a shrug.

"I DO NOT SOUND LIKE HELGA!" Curly snapped.

Eugene arched an eyebrow, "Gosh, Curly, I didn't mean anything by it. Helga and I have gotten pretty close since we both got big parts in the upcoming play. All I was saying-"

"All you're saying is that you're gay!" Curly snarled.

Eugene's eyes narrowed. It wasn't often that he was pushed to the poin the would push back, but Curly had gotten him there. "Yeah, I am. So what?"

That managed to shut Curly up. "What?"

"I'm gay, Curly!" Eugene exclaimed. "Maybe when you want to come out of the closet you can come to play practice." Eugene shoved past Curly and proceeded to his house. He felt terrible the second he said it, but he wouldn't take it back. Besides, it wasn't like Curly would ever come out of the closet. He had been obsessed with Rhonda Lloyd since kindergarten.

Unless Rhonda was his beard.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Helga sighed and shook her head at Eugene. "Ya know if word gets out that you own nail polish you might not have to come out at all."

Sheena, who was sitting on Eugene's bed working on one of the costumes for the play, gave Helga an appalled look. "Helga, you should be more supportive of Eugene and not threaten to reveal things like that about him."

Eugene laughed lightly and shook his head, painting on another coat of glittery pink nail polish on Helga's toes. Painting nails cleared his head, but doing it to himself just made him uncomfortable. Helga's and Sheena's nails had become his canvas since he came out to them. "It's alright, Sheena." He informed her cheerfully. "Helga's a great friend and I trust her completely."

Helga smiled, one of her genuine smiles as opposed to her cocky smirk. "Thanks Eugene. You wanna get back to lines?"

Eugene shrugged, "Sure, why not? By the way, Sheena, what costume are you working on?"

"It's pink so it must be one of mine." Helga said with a smirk.

Sheena couldn't help but giggle, shaking her head. "Nothing gets past you, does it Helga?"

"Nope. Sharp as a tack." Helga replied.

"It's the pink dress suit for the Legally Blonde Reprise. It's almost done. The jacket at least, but that's the worst part. Can I fit you for it while you're already here, Helga?" Sheena asked.

Helga shrugged, "Sure thing. It'll save both of us some time. Now, where do you want to start, Eugene?" She asked, opening up her script.

"Right before Take It Like A Man." Eugene answered.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Curly?" Arnold asked as he slid into the seat next to his classmate in the back of the balcony. "What're you doing here?"

Curly almost jumped out of his seat, flailing his arms dramatically before calming down and settling back into his seat, still looking uncomfortable. "I could ask you the same thing, Shortman."

A slight smile found his mouth as he looked down at the stage where Helga and Iggy were receiving direction for a scene between Elle Woods and Warner. "Oh I'm here for a girl." He admitted while scratching the back of his neck.

Curly raised an eyebrow, "Lila?"

"Huh?" Arnold looked genuinely confused. "Lila's in the play?"

Curly nodded, "She's one of the Delta Nu girls." Curly had been watching the rehearsal since school got out a few hours ago.

"That's…fun." Arnold said for the lack of a better word.

Curly nodded, his gaze fixed intently upon Helga, who was portraying a very convincing bouncy and bubbly Elle Woods. Had he not been seeing it himself he never would have believed that the girly and peppy girl on stage was in fact Helga Pataki. "I wouldn't have believed Pataki could pull off the lead of Legally Blonde."

A dreamy expression came onto Arnold's face. "Yeah, she's pretty amazing."

The dazed look didn't get past Curly and he gave Arnold a confused look, but said nothing in return.

They sat in silence watching as Iggy finished breaking up with Helga on stage. The director praised them dramatically before calling everyone onto stage for the Chip On My Shoulder number, promising that they could go home after two or three runs, unless they all got it right on the first run.

Arnold drummed his fingers against his knee as he watched the rehearsal. He had to admit to himself that Eugene and Helga had great chemistry on stage and their voices were both beyond exceptional.

For a split second he looked at Curly, finding a dreamy smile on his face. Maybe Curly was here for a girl too. When Curly noticed Arnold looking at him, he sobered his expression and did the best he could to cover the red color in his cheeks.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Not bad. You're actually pretty good." Curly said nervously, intercepting Eugene before he could get far.

Eugene blinked a few times, unsure if this was a prank or if Curly was actually being nice to him. "Oh…um, thanks Curly. Did you need something?" He asked cautiously.

"I was just wondering if I could walk you home. I'd…like to talk to you." Curly's gaze remained fixed to the ground, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

Eugene didn't bother to hide the confusion on his face. "I guess so."

"Hey Eugene." Arnold greeted Eugene as he left the auditorium with Helga on his arm.

Eugene smiled. Helga had told him that she and Arnold were planning on coming out in the open. He was glad that she was actually letting them go through with it. Last time they'd considered that Helga had let her nerves get the best of her. "Hey Arnold."

Helga yawned and rested her head against Arnold's shoulder. "Hey Gene-y." Helga called Eugene by one of the nicknames she'd given him. "You exhausted as I am?"

Eugene smiled. "Almost. Sucks that I have that paper to write for Henderson's class."

"Wait a second!" Curly exclaimed. "Arnold, _Helga _was the girl you were watching?"

This got Helga to perk up. "You said you'd gotten here five minutes ago and hadn't seen anything!"

Arnold chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his neck, "Uh…well."

She poked him hard in the chest a few times, "You're in big trouble, bucko." She linked her arm around his and started pulling him down the street. "I'll see you tomorrow Eugene."

Eugene laughed and shook his head, waving goodbye to the unlikely couple.

"Why wouldn't she tell me about that?" Curly snapped watching Arnold and Helga walk away.

Eugene raised an eyebrow at Curly, "Helga? I thought you two hated each other."

Curly shook his head, "We agreed to act like we hated each other so no one would find out that we've taken ballet together since we were nine."

"You take ballet?" Eugene asked, slowly beginning the trip home.

Curly understood and followed closely behind. "Yeah, I've actually got some offers for some companies all over."

"Wow that's really impressive." Eugene said with a smile, "I had no idea."

Curly released a sigh before he forced the words out of his mouth. "I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday. It wasn't right for me to just go off at you like that. It had just been…a long day."

Eugene shrugged, "It's alright, Curly. Do you want to talk about it?" Eugene thought it would probably best if he didn't tell Curly that he'd noticed he was crying.

"I don't think you want to open that floodgate." Curly muttered.

"It's really no problem, Curly." Eugene insisted.

"They wouldn't accpet me." Curly said shortly.

"Huh?" Eugene arched a brow. "Who wouldn't?"

"Oh just my parents!" Curly exclaimed, looking much more like the erratic and insane character everyone knew. "They're just supposed to be supportive and loving no matter what but _no_, when things get tough for them they refuse to even acknowlegde that I'm their son anymore. They'd have kicked me already if they could legally do that without getting into trouble. I mean they really shouldn't be surprised. I've been taking ballet since I as a kid and they think I'm the exception that's only in there to lift girls up by their asses and occasionally cop a feel."

Eugene thought he understood, but he still wasn't sure. "Your parents don't want you persuing dance?"

"NO!" Curly exclaimed. "Well they aren't exactly thrilled about that either, but let's just say that you're not the only one who prefers hotdogs to tacos."

Curly shoved his hands in his pockets and his face turned red.

Eugene's jaw dropped. Had Curly just…come out to him?

"I'm gunna go." Curly said shortly, turning on his heel.

Before Eugene could stop himself, he linked his arm around Curly's and stopped him. "Curly, don't go. Why don't you come to my house for dinner?"

Curly raised an eyebrow at Eugene. "I'd rather not be the pitiful gay friend you show to your parents to assure them that it could be worse."

Eugene chuckled, "My parents already know. Besides, it seems like you could use a friends."

"Oh…well…thanks, Eugene." Curly murmered as he let Eugene lead him away.

Eugene seemed blissfully unaware of their linked arms, but Curly was painfully aware of it, his face turning bright red. Still, he didn't try to detach.

Eugene gave Curly a sideways glance which turned into a warm smile.

Curly just stared back, unsure of how to respond to that. However, once Eugene turned away Curly found that he was smiling too.


End file.
